If there’s one guy you think would have nothing but terrible memories of Columbus, Ohio, it might be former Blue Jackets bench boss Gerard Gallant. He took over when Doug MacLean stepped down as head coach January 1, 2004 and lasted until November 13, 2006 without experiencing much success.

But when he was introduced as the Panthers new head man today, Turk had this to say about his time leading the CBJ:

“I think that the Columbus days, you know, you look back at our record and I think I was 20 games under 500. To me, I thought the Columbus days were a real good experience for me. I mean, was I young coach at that time? Yes, I was. I didn’t have a whole lot of head coaching experience, but I had some assistant coaching experience…I think going back and getting fired from Columbus, what was real important for me…the key factor for me was going back [to the St. John’s Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League] and working hard again, getting to work with young players. Getting the opportunity to go back after that to go to Montreal and coach two more years as an assistant there, I think the experience over the time is going to make me a better coach and a better person.”